This YouTube Skate Channel Is Thrashing All Of ESPN's Engagement Metrics

They might not have the star power of ESPN, but Steve Berra & Eric Koston who run an indoor skate park called The Berrics have a far better engagement rate with their audience. That’s because they video a lot of the skateboarding stars that visit the park. The content is so good, that according to our research, they have the highest engagement rate of any video channel dedicated to skateboarding.

Berra, who spoke to me about their impressive engagement rates on YouTube, credits a lot of their success to their ability to tell a compelling story. “There is always a hook to our content – we build story and filmmaking into the video. There’s always conflict or some motive behind every piece of content. We make it look like the footage is shot on a whim – but we plan most of it,” Berra told me.

With over 1000 videos uploaded to YouTube already, Berra claims they have 4000 more in their library that they have yet to release. Their videos move audiences to act, having the highest engagement rate of any skateboarding channel on YouTube.

A Brief history of the (Berra + Eric = Berrics)

Before Berra and Koston started the Berrics, Berra was skateboarding, acting, selling his own line of shoes and writing movie scripts. As much as those diverse skill sets seem implausible, he managed to be quite successful in each. In fact, he spent a year writing a movie script for a horror film that was never released, but gave him the capital to purchase the Berrics skate park.

Berra told me that he learned a lot about himself and his priorities during that fateful year. Berra disliked the movie’s producer and disliked where he was taking it. He told me he remembers going to the bathroom and looking in the mirror during a meeting with the producer and saying to himself “What am I doing? What am I doing? Why am I doing this to myself?”

However, the experience did teach him that he did want to get into the movies. But his movies would be produced at the Berrics and shown on their website. Berra related to me when he realized how he would combine his love of skating and movies: “A short while after we opened the Berrics, I looked around and thought, ‘here are 15 of the best skateboarders on earth in this place right now and no one knows.’”

“Almost immediately the videos blew up on our website and later YouTube. They seemed to fill a gap, because the skateboarding industry had a choke hold on the way things worked and the way it worked wasn’t working in the digital age,” Berra explained, “Once we started producing videos at the Berrics, it caught on like wildfire through social networks.”

It took a few years for them to start posting their videos on YouTube primarily because someone was squatting on their name on YouTube.

Berra and Koston want to expand the skateboarding culture worldwide and found video to be their best weapon. Hungry for new and authentic content, the skateboarding community responded in a big way. The community hasn’t looked back since.

And because of the video content, the Berrics skate park has become so popular that many have dubbed it the Studio 54 for Skateboarders. You can’t just get into the Berrics, you need an invitation. Like the Studio 54 of old, I’m told the Berrics frequently has uninvited guests that just wait for hours outside the park waiting for famous skateboarders to emerge.

Branded Content and Engagement

I asked Berra why he thought their content was so engaging, “There is always a hook to our content – we build story and filmmaking into the video. There’s conflict or some motive behind every piece of content. Most of it looks like it was shot on a whim – but all of it is planned.”

Berra is really proud of what he calls “trajectories” which are brand sponsored stories or stories about the brand themselves. Berra produced six trajectories for retail giant Target, called “The Way Up”, which like this one about Pro Skateboarder Paul Rodriguez scored seven hundred thousand views.

To put that into perspective, Target was able to sponsor content that Rodriguez’s fans loved (as evidenced by the views and engagement) without having to spend an exorbitant TV sized budget to produce it.

Berra is increasingly is focused on YouTube to get his message and stories out. He feels the platform does a great job of showcasing The Berrics and extending the brand outside of their massively successful website.

Speaking of plans, he and his team are working on several projects outside of skateboarding and promises to do to those niches like he’s done for skateboarding. It appears he’s found the right engagement formula, and wants to try it in other areas. “Storytelling is storytelling,” Berra told me, “it works in skateboarding and it will work as good in other categories as well.”

I provide an insider's view of the modern business world based on my years of experience working as an executive and consultant within the Global 3000. I am the CEO for Fanatics Media, a Digital Marketing Agency, and the author of Socialized!